Tuesday, August 10, 1999
The Plan:
Go to Haydon Bridge - Langley Castle Hotel
Haydon Bridge, Nr. Hexham, Northumberland, NE47 5LU +44(0) 1434 688888
See Hadrian's Wall

Reality:
Partly cloudy
08:00 wake up
08:10 breakfast: corn flakes, juice, eggs, sausage
09:06 train to London Charing Cross (standing 'til London Bridge)
09:42 taxi to London Kings Cross



10:00 train to York

 

11:52 arrive York, leave luggage in "Left Luggage" £4, taxi to Yorkminster £3


12:05 lunch: bacon baguette, lemonade
12:30 enter Yorkminster £2.50, it's big
    wander around
    tower tour starts at 14:00, kill time

 






14:00 £2 climb 285 circular steps to top of Yorkminster tower.


    take 20 photos






14:30 return to earth
14:40 walk past old York city wall to train station
14:47 take train to Newcastle, see a few sprinkles on window
15:47 arrive in Newcastle
16:22 take train to Haydon Bridge
17:15 arrive Haydon Bridge

    hey, it's the middle of nowhere!
17:20 find store, no taxis in town
17:25 find phone, call Castle, we'll give you a taxi's number, no, wait, we'll send  Land Rover.
17:30 Land Rover arrives, picks us up.
17:31 Land Rover driver and wife introduce themselves as fellow guests.
17:33 arrive at Langley Castle
17:35 check in, get world's longest key fob (10")
17:40 enter Castle View room.  Nice.



17:45 Mom can't find dining times, I check little slip of paper given me at check in.  bingo, 19:00 - 21:00, "Smart casual, no smoking in dining room".  I put out cigarette and take off Rocky and Bullwinkle T-shirt and don Pooh and Tigger T-shirt.
17:50 leaf through brochures to kill time, find out that dinner is £27.
18:45 walk to Castle
18:50 told we can chill out upstairs in Drawing Room (no lead pipes but plenty of candlesticks)
18:58 return to lobby and watch dining room door like hawks.
19:02 British Rail would have opened 2 minutes ago, we barge in.
19:02:10 waiter asks "May I help you?"
19:02:20 resist urge to quote from Mad's "Snappy answers to stupid questions"
    Instead say "We're here for dinner."
    Waiter: "Please go to the Drawing Room where someone will provide you with drinks and take your order.
19:03 Drawing Room


19:04 Q:What would you like to drink? A: Diet Coke and a lemonade.
19:05 Here's a menu.
19:07 receive lemonade
19:15 Q: Have you decided on your meal?
      A: I'll have the Beef-a-bal-oo-za, medium, with the meat sampler hors d'ouvers and lime sorbet
19:24 You may follow me to the dining room.
19:25 in dining room: "Would you like a roll", see SATSQ above.
19:25:02 yummy roll.
19:30 Mom gets soup.
19:35 Waiter asks: "Would you like to follow me to the hors d'oveurs bar?"
19:36 lots of gross stuff and a plate of meat.
19:37 I'll have some of that (Meat)
19:37 We've got smoked ham, roast beef, turkey, salami, sausage and garlic sausage.
19:38 "I'll take any four"
19:38:10 they're really big
19:38:15 "Make that three"
19:38:20 Follow waiter back to my table (#7 of 12) with ham, turkey and roast beef enough for a good sized sandwich.
19:45 Lime sorbet dwarfed by Bramble sorbet on Ice embedded with a Strawberry.
19:55 Beef whatever arrives, It's a filet mignon (can't hold a candle to Chuck Roast).
20:30 desert menu
20:35 "I'll have the Chocolate Truffle Cake"
20:40 I receive a cake shaped piece of Chocolate Truffle.
21:05 longest desert since the Boulder Cork.
21:10 waddle back to room